The present invention relates to an electronic information terminal device and an area setting control program, and specifically relates to an electronic information terminal device that is provided with a touch panel and an area setting control program for controlling operations for establishing an area on the touch panel.
In recent years, there have been increasingly proliferated in the market various kinds of electronic information terminal devices, each of which is provided with a touch panel mounted over a display section, such as a smartphone, a tablet type terminal device, etc. This kind of electronic information terminal device makes it possible for the user to conduct various kinds of operations by making his finger touch onto the touch panel and/or slide on the touch panel. Specifically, an electronic information terminal device, provided with such a touch panel that is capable of detecting a user's multi touching operation (hereinafter, referred to as a multi-touchable touch panel), allows the user to conduct operations more complicated than ever, by employing two fingers for performing touch panel actions.
With respect to the multi-touchable touch panel abovementioned, for instance, Tokuhyo 2002-501271 (Japanese Patent Publication) sets forth a method for pursuing and detecting (identifying) a contact point of the user's hand in the consecutive near value images so as to support the operations for interpreting various kinds of configurations and actions in regard to typing actions, chordal actions of plural freedom degrees and handwriting actions, the method including the steps of dividing each of near value images into groups of electrodes indicating significant near values; extracting various kinds of parameters in regard to a total value of the near values, a position, a shape, a size and a direction from each of the electrode groups; pursuing a group of paths that pass through the continuous near value images, including the step of detecting a final path point from which the contact section lifts off after touched down; calculating a velocity vector and a filtering processed positional vector along each of the paths; allotting identities of user's hands and fingers to each of the contact section paths, by taking the relative path position and velocity, the feature of individual contact section and the previously estimated values of the positions of the hand and finger, into account; and maintaining the estimated values of the hand and finger based on the locus of the path currently allotted to the finger.
Further, with respect to the technology for depicting a figure by using the touch panel, for instance, Tokkai 2011-022964 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication) sets forth a touch panel system that is provided with: a touch panel that is constituted by line electrodes and column electrodes, which are intersects with each other; a detecting section to detect a designated position and a moving path, both of which are performed on the touch panel by using a designation means, wherein, on the figure displayed on the touch panel concerned, the detecting section detects a designation start position designated by the designation means, a moving locus on which the designation means has moved from the designation start position, and a designation stop position at which the designation means stops moving; and a control section to deform the figure above-depicted, based on the information representing the designation start position, the moving locus and the designation stop position, which are detected by the detecting section.
When an area is to be established on the touch panel, employed is such a method that the user moves a single finger from a start point to a stop point in a diagonal direction so as to establish a rectangular area, the diagonal line of which is set as the line depicted from the start point to the stop point, or otherwise, the user moves two fingers so as to establish a rectangular area, the diagonal line of which is set as the line residing between the stop points of the two fingers. However, this method is merely employable for establishing a rectangular-shaped area, and therefore, this method has been inconvenient for the user, since it has been impossible to establish an area having an arbitral shape.
Further, as another method for establishing an area, employed is such a method that the user depicts a closed curved line with his single finger, so as to establish an area surrounded by the closed curved line. However, according to the abovementioned method, since it is impossible to make use of the multi touching function and it is impossible to speedily and simply establish the area concerned, this method has been also inconvenient for the user.